Juneseok Lee

Juneseok Lee

Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering | Founder, iBWS — Intelligent Building Water Systems | ASCE Fellow

iBWS: Intelligent Building Water Systems


iBWS — Intelligent Building Water Systems

Autonomous Digital Twins for Building Water Infrastructure

iBWS (Intelligent Building Water Systems) is a 10-year research program founded by Dr. Juneseok Lee developing autonomous digital twin technology for building-scale water infrastructure. Building water systems — the premise plumbing networks within hospitals, hotels, universities, and residential buildings — cause 8,000–18,000 Legionella-related hospitalizations annually in the U.S. and remain the least-monitored segment of drinking water infrastructure.

iBWS transforms building water management from reactive to autonomous through a four-layer architecture: data integration, physics-based simulation engines, AI-driven intelligence, and autonomous orchestration.

Six Validated Components

1 · P03 · BIM2WNTR — Automated Model Generation
Converts Building Information Models (BIM) to WNTR-ready hydraulic simulation networks automatically. Achieves R²>0.99 accuracy in under 10 seconds.

2 · P00 · Pump Scheduling Optimization
Multi-objective pump scheduling using NSGA-II and 54,000 HPC simulations. Achieves 45.6% energy savings relative to conventional always-on scheduling.

3 · P06 · Thermal Risk Modeling — Legionella Prevention
Physics-based thermal simulation identifying zones in the 25–45°C growth range, triggering automated flushing protocols before outbreak conditions develop.

4 · P04 · Hydraulic Transient Analysis
Pressure surge quantification across 96 building scenarios using TSNet. Identifies transient-induced pipe failure risks and informs protective control strategies.

5 · P01 · One Water Simulation
Coupled potable-drainage simulation enabling simultaneous modeling of water supply, greywater recycling, and drainage systems.

6 · P18/P19 · iBWSS — Water Sustainability Optimization
Multi-objective optimization of rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling, and solar-assisted water heating. Achieves up to 62% water self-sufficiency across 12 U.S. cities.

Three Levels of Autonomous Control

Level 1 Decision Support Agent diagnoses · Human executes Current · 2025–2026
Building sensors temp · flow · pressure iBWS agent GPT-4o + physics models Decision report risk zones · work orders Facility manager reads report · decides · acts manual on-site action (flush valve, adjust pump, log incident) HUMAN IN LOOP
WHO ACTS: Facility manager — iBWS provides the diagnosis and ranked work order; a human performs every physical action manually on-site. Most existing buildings fall into this category today.
iBWS agent monitors sensor data and executes physics-based simulations (P06 thermal risk, P03 hydraulic model, P00 pump optimization). When a threshold is exceeded — e.g., Zone 3 at 35°C — the agent generates a prioritized action report. The facility manager reads the report and manually acts. No building automation hardware required. Deployable today.
Level 2 Semi-Autonomous Agent commands · System executes · Human oversees 3–5 years · BAS/BMS integration required
Sensors / IoT 24/7 monitoring iBWS agent GPT-4o + physics models BAS / BMS system receives iBWS commands Smart valves · pumps auto-execute commands Human override / approval available at any step — operator can pause, override, or abort HUMAN OVERSIGHT
WHO ACTS: Automation executes iBWS commands through the building's BAS/BMS — human operator retains full override authority at any time. Requires smart valve and VFD pump infrastructure.
The iBWS agent issues commands directly to the Building Automation System (BAS) or Building Management System (BMS) via standard protocols (BACnet, Modbus). The BAS executes thermal flushing, pump scheduling adjustments, and setpoint changes automatically. Suitable for hospitals, hotels, and universities with existing smart building infrastructure. Reduces response time from hours to seconds.
Level 3 Fully Autonomous Agent monitors · decides · executes · reports — no human in control loop 10-year vision · 2035+
Smart sensors continuous data stream iBWS autonomous agent GPT-4o + all validated models Smart infrastructure valves · pumps · thermal systems Audit log reports to stakeholders continuous 24/7 autonomous control loop no human decision-making in the control loop STAKEHOLDERS audit log only
WHO ACTS: The iBWS autonomous agent — monitors, decides, and executes all water system management actions without human involvement. Stakeholders receive audit reports only.
The fully autonomous iBWS operates as a closed-loop system: real-time sensor data feeds continuously into the agent, which runs validated physics simulations, makes decisions using multi-objective optimization, and issues direct commands to smart infrastructure. Analogous to how HVAC building automation systems operate today — but for water. This is the iBWS 10-year research and commercialization target.
Sensors / data input
iBWS agent
Outputs / audit log
Automated execution
Human operator
Human override (optional)

Technology Stack

  • Simulation engines: WNTR, PySWMM, TSNet, custom thermal models
  • Optimization: NSGA-II, multi-objective Pareto optimization
  • AI orchestration: OpenAI Agents SDK, GPT-4o, physics-informed neural surrogates
  • Data integration: BIM2WNTR automated pipeline
  • Computing: HPC-enabled simulation (NAIRR/ACCESS aligned)

Research Roadmap

PhaseTimelineMilestone
Component validation2002–2025Six validated physics models
Agent architecture2025–2026Autonomous orchestration proof-of-concept
Field validation2026–2028Pilot deployment in real buildings
Generalized platform2028–2030Multi-building scalable product
Full autonomy2030–2035Level 3 autonomous control

Publications

Selected iBWS-related publications are listed on the Publications page. Key venues include ASCE Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, AWWA Water Science, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, and ASCE/ASEE conference proceedings.

Collaboration & Contact

Dr. Lee welcomes collaboration with researchers, building owners, utilities, and industry partners interested in intelligent building water systems.

Email: juneseok.lee@manhattan.edu
Google Scholar: View iBWS-related publications

iBWS is the 10-year research and commercialization vision of Dr. Juneseok Lee, building on 24 years of validated building water systems research (2002–present).